I gotta say, this is one case where the cops really did their jobs well. They could have just mowed down these idiots, but they showed restraint and made sure what was going on instead of just opening fire.

strangeluck:I gotta say, this is one case where the cops really did their jobs well. They could have just mowed down these idiots, but they showed restraint and made sure what was going on instead of just opening fire.

Kind of sad, though, that we do feel inclined to compliment the cops on this. I guess we've seen too many stories where cops shot some dude 90 times because they mistook a sandwich for an AK-47.

jake_lex:Kind of sad, though, that we do feel inclined to compliment the cops on this. I guess we've seen too many stories where cops shot some dude 90 times because they mistook a sandwich for an AK-47.

What about when an AK-47 is ACTUALLY an AK-47? Just as a hypothetical?

Au contrare subby, I think they'd be doing the world a favour by darwining out of the gene pool, the last thing the world needs is yet another film industry wannabe who can't plan more then a few minutes ahead or at least have the foresight to consider the ramifications of their decisions. I think all film makers should be put into this position and I bet the average script would drastically improve by the culling that'd take place.

The first thing most aspiring film makers are taught is to alert the police before any filming involving weapons in public. Yes, you do need to get permits. I'm a fan of gorilla film making, but not with weapons in public, aside from illegal, it puts many people at risk.

strangeluck:I gotta say, this is one case where the cops really did their jobs well. They could have just mowed down these idiots, but they showed restraint and made sure what was going on instead of just opening fire.

The manager Jonathan Sparling said he was the one who gave the film crew permission to film, and didn't think about notifying the Police Department or obtaining a film permit.

It's not his job. It's the producer's responsibility to inform the police ahead of time of any location shoot with weapons or violence to ensure this doesn't happen. There is no excuse for not knowing this.

Hell, we used to alert the campus cops before our weekly capture the flag game in college. We figured it was common sense what with us ducking in and out of shadows and running after each other. On the few occasions when they got called because of us only one officer would show up to have a chat instead of every coop on campus searching for "the creepy guy I saw in the bushes"

Meanwhile, back in the late 80's, my friends and I would film (OK, videotape) all sorts of action movies in and around our small-ish city. Sometimes we'd ask total strangers to take part as well - once we asked a rather large and scary-looking gentleman to kidnap our star for a scene.

If we pulled half the shiat we did today that we did back then, we'd be dead or in Gitmo. Also, we'd be middle-aged losers making stupid movies with a Betamax camera.

Greylight:The first thing most aspiring film makers are taught is to alert the police before any filming involving weapons in public. Yes, you do need to get permits. I'm a fan of gorilla film making, but not with weapons in public, aside from illegal, it puts many people at risk.

Sometimes they are, if you're filming in a location where there is little to no danger to your film disrupting the area (it's different if your film needs to close off a street or a private area in order to be able to conduct your film properly), usually the producer doesn't notify the cops in that situation because their first question would be "Did you go down to City Hall in order to pay the fee for a permit to shoot your film?" ("very low" budget films [ones that don't pay the actors, and say to them that they're in the movie for "exposure"] are notorious for this) and if they get caught, the consequences are larger fines than what it took to pay for a permit. But in most cases, yes, a film permit and notifying the local police as to what you're doing should be a standard practice for a producer to acquire before shooting something that might get you shot by the cops.

Thunderboy:Meanwhile, back in the late 80's, my friends and I would film (OK, videotape) all sorts of action movies in and around our small-ish city. Sometimes we'd ask total strangers to take part as well - once we asked a rather large and scary-looking gentleman to kidnap our star for a scene.

If we pulled half the shiat we did today that we did back then, we'd be dead or in Gitmo. Also, we'd be middle-aged losers making stupid movies with a Betamax camera.

A stick-up team could have somebody standing around with a sign reading "ROBBERY SCENE FILMING IN PROGRESS" and somebody filming the action and they'd really get way with actual loot, right? The camera should be as visible as possible but the "actors" would hand the cashier/teller a note reading "This is really a REAL stickup! And these are REAL guns with REAL bullets!"

Wasn't there an old Walter Matthau movie where the cops who showed up to a real robbery were told it was a filming and they could be written into the scene?

It takes a dumbass to "forget" to make sure the local cops know you are filming a fake robbery. But maybe they thought "Nobody will know, it's a 30 second scene, no big deal, and we don't want to fill out a bunch of paperwork and pay the city for a permit".

But the real idiot is the one that ignored the cops order to "PUT DOWN THE WEAPON NOW!".

The police would have been within their rights to use lethal force on the "suspect/actor" who didn't respond to commands and the officer had to disarm them. It is natural for some to freeze up when confronted by actual weapons pointed at them, especially when they haven't experienced that before. Fortunately, the police figured out from the cameras and other signs that this wasn't what it appeared to be and hesitated. Of course that same hesitation could have gotten them hurt or killed if it actually was a robbery. Remember, the officers have very little time to observe, analyze, and react. If the police make a mistake one way or the other an innocent party or themselves is at risk of being hurt or killed. Thank goodness some officers didn't have to live with the guilt of shooting some idiotic students.

jake_lex:strangeluck: I gotta say, this is one case where the cops really did their jobs well. They could have just mowed down these idiots, but they showed restraint and made sure what was going on instead of just opening fire.

Kind of sad, though, that we do feel inclined to compliment the cops on this. I guess we've seen too many stories where cops shot some dude 90 times because they mistook a sandwich for an AK-47.

strangeluck:I gotta say, this is one case where the cops really did their jobs well. They could have just mowed down these idiots, but they showed restraint and made sure what was going on instead of just opening fire.

Greylight:The first thing most aspiring film makers are taught is to alert the police before any filming involving weapons in public. Yes, you do need to get permits. I'm a fan of gorilla film making, but not with weapons in public, aside from illegal, it puts many people at risk.